Nov. 26, 2013

What is a grand jury?

Grand juries are used by prosecutors to review certain cases and decide if charges should be filed. In LeRoy Butler’s case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin called a grand jury to hear evidence from witnesses and IRS agents regarding the former Green Bay Packer’s charity work, according to a subpoena reviewed by the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team. Grand jury sessions are generally secret — the jurors, prosecutor and other court officials are sworn to silence — but witnesses are allowed to discuss the proceedings. The potential defendant is generally not present for the grand jury and may not even be aware it is meeting. In Wisconsin, grand juries typically meet once a month for one or two days to hear a variety of cases. They consist of 20 to 30 people who generally serve a 12- to 18-month term. Evidence on a given case is sometimes presented to the grand jury at multiple monthly sessions before the body is asked to decide on an indictment — a recommendation that charges be filed. The jury is asked to indict if it believes the evidence establishes “probable cause” to believe the person committed a given crime, a lower bar than the “beyond reasonable doubt” required at trial.

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LeRoy Butler’s charity work has sparked a criminal investigation.

A federal grand jury has subpoenaed documents related to the former Green Bay Packers safety, according to documents obtained by the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team. The IRS has been investigating Butler and his charity since at least July, but the inquiry expanded at some point to include federal prosecutors.

Federal court filings do not list any charges against Butler.

Butler’s charity — the LeRoy Butler Foundation — has held charity fundraisers in Wisconsin for the past decade while filing only one required annual return with the IRS, as first detailed in a Nov. 17 I-Team story. He also has drawn criticism from watchdog groups for taking appearance fees of up to $10,000 at his own charity events and advertising for-profit ventures on his charity website.

Records show Craig Kersemeier, president of K-tech Kleening Systems in Weston, received a subpoena in September from the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, as did K-tech and its associated nonprofit, K-Tech Charities. The subpoenas required K-tech to provide all documents related to its work with Butler as part of a grand jury proceeding Nov. 6 in Madison.

K-tech ran a 2009 charity golf tournament with Butler in Wausau and sponsored Butler tournaments for several years prior to that. The company cut ties in 2009 after discovering Butler was not filing with the IRS.

The subpoenas requested all records from 2007 to 2013 related to Butler as well as several other Packers, but Kersemeier said investigators only asked questions about Butler. The subpoenas referred to the probe as a criminal investigation.

“Any emails ... receipts, anything like that that we had any association with LeRoy Butler, I had to turn them over to the federal grand jury,” Kersemeier said, noting that because records were provided he was not required to appear in person before the grand jury.

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Butler, 45, played for the Packers from 1990 to 2001 and has maintained a high profile here by speaking at events, authoring several books and appearing as a Packers commentator. Butler was a key member of the team that won the 1996 NFL championship and is credited as the inventor of the iconic Lambeau Leap.

Butler said Monday he was unaware of the grand jury investigation.

“We are fully complying with all requirements relating to our foundation and have outside experts engaged,” Butler said in an email. “I have not been contacted in any way by a regulatory body. Of course any such contact would be handled in the normal business course.”

Authorities won't confirm investigation

Grand juries are secret, so it is not clear if the proceeding took place as scheduled Nov. 6.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Munish Sharda, who signed the subpoenas, declined to comment or confirm the investigation Monday. Myra Longfield, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District, said investigations are not made public until any potential charges are filed.

Unlike a trial jury, which determines guilt or innocence, a grand jury determines whether a person should be charged with a crime. The jury — typically a group of 20 to 30 — is tasked with deciding if the evidence establishes “probable cause” to believe the person committed a given crime, a lower bar than the “beyond reasonable doubt” required at trial.

In Wisconsin, the jurors meet monthly for one or two days to hear a variety of cases and typically serve on the grand jury for 12 to 18 months. The jury hears sworn testimony from witnesses and other evidence from a federal prosecutor. The potential defendant is typically not present.

For the case to proceed, the grand jury must issue an indictment and the prosecutor must sign it. Evidence on a given case is sometimes presented to the grand jury at multiple monthly sessions before the body is asked to decide on an indictment.

The jurors, prosecutor and investigating agent are required to keep the proceedings secret. Prosecutors ask witnesses such as Kersemeier not to disclose the proceedings but cannot require them to do so.

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Kersemeier: 'We're the victims'

Kersemeier said he was shocked when agents showed up at K-tech asking about Butler. The subpoenas were served by agents with the criminal investigation division of the IRS.

“At the end of the day, we’re the victims. We’re the ones who believed and trusted someone,” he said. “(Butler) took advantage of some people and that’s too bad, because you used your notoriety and your name where you could have done so many good things.”

Kersemeier said K-tech was not involved with the finances when it ran a tournament with Butler, simply turning over the money to Butler and his foundation. After answering agents’ questions and sending in the requested records Oct. 30, Kersemeier was told nothing more was needed from K-tech.

Kersemeier said his company stopped working with Butler after the former Packer “couldn’t give us straight answers” about why his foundation hadn’t been filing required returns with the IRS.

Butler founded the LeRoy Butler Foundation in 1999, but it has not filed with the IRS since 2002, even though he continued raising money under that name through this year. He founded a second charity — the LeRoy Butler Scholarship Fund — in 2009, and its tax-exempt status was revoked by the IRS after failing to file any returns by 2012. The only return on file from Butler’s charities since 2002 is a 2011 filing the scholarship fund submitted after the revocation claiming it brought in less than $50,000.

In 2010, K-tech Charities established its own golf tournament, the Pink Ribbon Open, to raise money for women with breast cancer, Kersemeier said. The annual event, which does not involve Butler, brought in $80,000 this year, about $38,000 after expenses.

Kersemeier said K-tech Charities gives money to women diagnosed with breast cancer that they can use for medical bills or other expenses. Recipients are chosen through Ministry Health Care and Aspirus Network.

Kersemeier is not the only person to cut ties with Butler over concerns with his charity’s legitimacy.

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Jacki White Kasubaski, who organized a July 2011 charity run in Winneconne benefiting Butler’s foundation, said in an email she handed over $2,500 but never received a charitable donation receipt as required by the IRS. When the receipt didn’t appear despite Butler’s personal assurances, she looked into the matter further and discovered Butler’s lack of IRS returns.

She said the discovery spurred her and her husband to start their own charity benefiting breast cancer patients.

Butler drops final charity event

The LeRoy Butler Foundation website says the charity will shut down after a final fundraising event in February, but the travel agent organizing that trip says Butler backed out more than a week ago.

Jennie Maitlen, co-owner of Orion Travel, said her company approached Butler about partnering with the agency on a trip to Riviera Maya to benefit his foundation. He backed out Nov. 16, the day before an I-Team story first publicized questionable actions by Butler’s foundation.

Maitlen said her agency will be out $20,000 worth of advertising and prepaid rooms if the trip doesn’t work out. She said they signed on Packers Jarrett Boykin and Brandon Bostick after Butler dropped out, but the agency still has a ways to go to fill the 70 rooms they’ve paid for.

“If we don’t sell this trip out, we’re going to be losing a lot of money,” she said. “We still don’t even know why he canceled or what’s really going on.”

Butler has said all money raised by his charity went to help women diagnosed with breast cancer or their families, though that contradicts his own admission that he took appearance fees from charity events that were profitable. Kersemeier said K-tech paid Butler a $2,500 appearance fee for the 2009 tournament benefiting Butler’s foundation.

When asked for records detailing his donations several weeks ago, Butler provided a breakdown by city of 87 women he said received payments of $500 to $1,000 from 2004 to 2012. No names were included, which Butler said was due to privacy concerns.

Butler’s foundation website says Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare is one of three providers it works with to identify women to receive grants. Anne Ballentine, a Wheaton Franciscan spokeswoman, said Monday the network was approached by Butler on the subject and worked with several women to submit applications, but none received funding.

The foundation also lists Aurora Health Care as a featured provider, but Aurora spokesman Adam Beeson said in an email that talks over a partnership program with Butler several years ago “never came to fruition.”

The third provider listed on Butler’s site, Bellin Health, received a $10,000 pledge from Butler’s foundation in late 2012 for money to assist cancer patients, said spokesman Dana Bzdawka. He said Bellin has so far received half those funds, a $5,000 check that arrived in December.